TwentyFour

Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell had the honour of kicking off the 2025 season for the major central banks this week, swiftly followed by the chore of having to plead the fifth every time he was asked about a President Trump policy.

It has been two weeks since the primary market for collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) re-opened and 2025 has already proven to be quite a year from multiple angles.

Much of the discussion around inflation over the past few months has centred on the potential for US tariffs, a focus that has only intensified following Donald Trump’s inauguration.

It has been a busy year in fixed income markets, with Q4 2024 proving to be a pivotal period marked by significant global events, including the US election. TwentyFour Asset Management’s Eoin Walsh looks at the path for interest rate cuts in 2025.

As the fourth quarter of 2024 comes to a close, TwentyFour Asset Management’s Douglas Charleston reflects on the past year’s events and explains why, in his view, the record supply of European ABS and CLOs in 2024 is likely to be matched in 2025.

In what has been a busy start to 2025, TwentyFour Asset Management’s Gordon Shannon looks back on the final quarter of 2024.

One of the key reasons we see credit continuing to outperform government bonds over the medium term is corporate fundamentals.

Will volatility in government bonds continue? Has fixed income seen “peak ESG”? And what will be the biggest driver of returns?

Global rates markets rallied sharply on Wednesday after fixed income investors received some long-awaited good news in the shape of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for December, which came in below consensus in both the US and the UK.

Given modest interest rate cut projections, a stable if not stellar macro backdrop and better relative value than corporate credit, we think European ABS investors can expect another strong year of supply and returns in 2025.

Last week Fitch Ratings published a report concerning asset performance deterioration in UK residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) originated prior to the global financial crisis (GFC).

The latest non-farm payrolls (NFP) data on Friday showed ongoing resilience in the US labour market. To quote the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Austan Goolsbee, “the labor market seems to be stabilizing at something close to a full employment rate.” Is he right?